[16] Atta and Shehhi established accounts at SunTrust Bank and received wire transfers from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew in the United Arab Emirates. They drove to Cambrils, where they spent a night at the Hotel Monica. [37] Atta was anti-Semitic, believing that Jews controlled the world's media, financial, and political institutions from New York City. [12] Atta initially lived with two high school teachers; however, they eventually found his closed-mindedness and introverted personality to be too much for them. "He said he was an engineer and he wanted to build a chemical . [38] These beliefs were even stronger during Operation Infinite Reach, which he believed that Monica Lewinsky was a Jewish agent influencing Bill Clinton against aiding Palestine, which would later play a key role in creating the Hamburg Cell. They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona. On August 6, Atta and Shehhi rented a white, four-door 1995 Ford Escort from Warrick's Rent-A-Car, which was returned on August 13. before the crash, the . After he graduated in 1990 with an architecture degree,[15] he joined the Engineers Syndicate, an organization under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. His mother, Bouthayna Mohamed Mustapha Sheraqi, came from a wealthy farming and trading family and was also educated. One theory suggests that Mohamed Atta and the other pilots who led the hijacking teams were here planning the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. A secret police intelligence report . . In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the al-Quds Mosque, where he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ziad Jarrah, together forming the Hamburg cell. Something is not right. Twelve minutes later, at 8:46:40a.m., Atta crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Even for those who couldn't believe what they were seeing, that signaled a terrorist plot, with the possibility of more attacks to follow. [8][29] Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars. [9][44] This was the same day that Israel, much to the outrage of Atta, attacked Lebanon in Operation Grapes of Wrath; signing the will "offering his life" was his response. They learned of a massive terrorist attack underway, concluding that they had to take action to down the plane: it was not being hijacked to land and for demands to be made. On Sept. 12, 2001, investigators combed over the field near Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed a day earlier. He was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 which he crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. Atta purchased cockpit videos for Boeing 747-200, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767-300ER models via mail-order from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, in November and December 2000.[16]. A passenger revolt kept Flight 93 from hitting the Capitol. Twenty-three minutes later, Atta flew that plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. - 9:03 a.m. [71] On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. Mohamed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz al-Omari are seen passing through security at the Portland Jetport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Credit: Courtesy of Spectrum News Service It is a day no one . Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. "[113] In turn, political scientist Robert Pape has claimed that Atta was motivated by his commitment to the political cause, that he was psychologically normal, and that he was "not readily characterized as depressed, not unable to enjoy life, not detached from friends and society. [30], In Hamburg, Atta was intensely drawn to al-Quds Mosque which adhered to a "harsh, uncompromisingly fundamentalist, and resoundingly militant" version of Sunni Islam. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his . They drove a rented Nissan to Portland, Maine, and arrived at the Comfort Inn Hotel at 5:43 p.m. At the time, Tyler Drumhiller was a top official at the CIA, responsible for all European Operations. He believed that the drab and impersonal apartment blocks, built in the 60s and 70s, ruined the beauty of old neighborhoods and robbed their people of privacy and dignity. [38] Even before bin al-Shibh had arrived, Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near bin Laden's home in Kandahar, where he was waiting to meet them. During his time in the United States, Jarrah left five times to visit his wife in Germany and he constantly communicated with her, both over the phone and in email. On July 7, 2001, Atta flew on Swissair Flight 117 from Miami to Zrich, where he had a stopover. ET (approx.) The men who would become the pilots of the four hijacked planes began working on the plot in 1999, traveled to the US in 2000, and enrolled in flight training schools. He had made no progress on his thesis. Unidentified sources from both Al-Qaeda and the United States confirmed The Times the video's authenticity. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this. Atta said, he was to crash the plane. Atta, an Egyptian, and Omari, a Saudi, held $2,400 first-class tickets to fly from Portland to Boston to Los Angeles. In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. Just stay quiet." We will examine that 9/11 mystery in our next report. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. He also began teaching classes both at Al-Quds and at a Turkish mosque near the Harburg district. And that may have been what he was doing. He spoke again seconds after that first transmission, still unaware that his voice was being heard on the ground: "Nobody move, everything will be OK. He was among the highest-scoring students; by his senior year, he was admitted to an exclusive architecture program. [33], After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity. When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and applied for a new one, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan. The remains of the 9/11 killers are now held in deep freeze. Mahmoud Atta was 14 years older than Atta. Mr. Kraus and Mr. Pursell said that the breakdown could have happened to any pilot on any airfield, but that the response by the two men was wrong. [30], By mid-1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing in Centrumshaus. Flight controllers, according to airport records, guided the waiting passenger airliners around the stalled aircraft until it was towed away 35 minutes later. The 9/11 Commission obtained details about the meeting, based on interrogations of bin al-Shibh in the weeks after his arrest in September 2002. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. Initially, Mohamed Atta's identity was confused with that of a native Jordanian, Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed an Israeli bus in the West Bank in 1986, killing one and severely injuring three. On the way, Atta stopped in Reus to pick up Ramzi bin al-Shibh at the airport. While in the United States, Atta owned a red 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix. One former flight instructor said a Federal Aviation Administration official placed an angry call on Dec. 27, threatening to investigate the maintenance record of the plane as well as the two pilots. Atta checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, passed through security again, and boarded the flight. Ziad Jarrah should demonstrate that intelligence collection needs to be a holistic endeavor and is highly complicated. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his Travelocity account. Mohamed Atta had varied his name on documents, also using "Mehan Atta", "Mohammad El Amir", "Muhammad Atta", "Mohamed El Sayed", "Mohamed Elsayed", "Muhammad al-Amir", "Awag Al Sayyid Atta", and "Awad Al Sayad". Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others. This document is divided into three sections; the first is a fifteen point list providing detailed instructions for the last night of a martyr's life, the second gives instructions for travelling to the plane and the third from the time between boarding the plane and martyrdom. The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. Jarrah had arrived in the United States on June 27, 2000, after his flight landed at Newark, New Jersey, and Jarrah had decided to go with Shehhi and Atta to search for different flight schools in the US. The date for the planes operation is set. At 7:59a.m., the plane departed from Boston to Los Angeles International Airport, carrying 81 passengers.[86]. But with more than 200,000 warrants pending on minor offenses in Broward County, he was never picked up. During the meeting, Atta and bin al-Shibh also decided on the targets to be hit, ruling out a strike on a nuclear plant. [40] Before this trip he grew out a beard, with a view to show himself as a devout Muslim and to make a political gesture thereby. This included the construction of high-rise buildings in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. Atta, who piloted the first plane into the world trade center, flew to Las Vegas on June 28, rented a car, then spent . ''Tower seemed to have no trouble taxiing around it at a busy time,'' the handwritten report reads. "[105][106], Five witnesses who had worked on Able Danger and had been questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General later told investigative journalists that their statements to the IG were distorted by investigators in the final IG's report, or the report omitted essential information that they had provided. She observed Muslim customs, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on buses. Mohammed AttaUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (U.S. v. Moussaoui) Mistakenly broadcasting over the air traffic control channel instead of the public-address system, flight 11 hijacker Mohammad Atta, who is piloting the plane, announces, "We have some planes. [23] He kept to himself to such an extent that he would often react to simple greetings with silence. On the way, they were seen getting gasoline at an Exxon gas station and visited the Longfellow House in Portland that afternoon;[82] they arrived at the hotel at 5:43p.m. and spent the night in Room 233. Investigators believe the call was to confirm the attacks were ready to begin. Financial records and bank video show Atta and Al-Omari made two ATM withdrawals in Portland, and the men were reportedly spotted at an area Wal-Mart, as well as in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut restaurant. Although the marriage never happened, Atta's father mentioned they liked each other.[18]. A voice believed to be that of al Qaeda hijack leader Mohamed Atta urged passengers to . Nepal plane crash victim shared tragic online post moments before 68 passengers died. Atta also claimed different nationalities, sometimes Egyptian and other times telling people he was from the United Arab Emirates. Atta confirmed that all the muscle hijackers had arrived in the United States, without any problems, but said that he needed five to six more weeks to work out details. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology,[50] at which they enrolled. Atta graduated from Cairo University with marks insufficient for the graduate program. Political psychologist Jerrold Post has suggested that Atta and his fellow hijackers were just following orders from al-Qaeda leadership, "and whatever their destructive, charismatic leader Osama bin Laden said was the right thing to do for the sake of the cause was what they would do. [58], On May 17, Atta applied for a United States visa. . . On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. Don't try to make any stupid moves." The plane is piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta. [75] Yosri Fouda, who interviewed bin al-Shibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) before the arrest, believes that Said Bahaji and KSM may have also been present at the meeting. [72] After the stopover in Zrich, he arrived in Madrid at 4:45pm on Swissair Flight 656, and spent several hours at the airport. He said he later called Signature to arrange to retrieve the airplane and was told that they did pass through the company's offices, at least briefly, before renting a car to return to Venice. Plane Crash. But Atta's night before 9-11 - which he spent in Portland, Main -- is a mystery that has puzzled terrorism experts for five years. [52], German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. ''They said I'd hear back from them, which I never did.''. His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance. Some say it was the makeup of Jarrah's team, that he had only three instead of four muscle men (because the 20th hijacker and his fourth was denied entry into the U.S.). Readers may recall the shaving custom from the media coverage of 9/11. One of Atta's bags did not make it onto Flight 11, leaving . During his trip to Las Vegas, he is thought to have used a video camera that he had rented from a Select Photo outlet back in Delray Beach, Florida. By the end of July, both Atta and Shehhi did solo flights. It turned out one of his accomplices, Mohamed Atta-- thought to be the ringleader of the entire four-jet attack that demolished the twin towers and part of the Pentagon-- stayed in the cheap Econo . I have been planning and working with Bin Laden on the destruction of certain American targets. Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture. The Web . They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. Both enrolled at Jones Aviation in Sarasota and took training there for a brief time. [3][56] On his return journey, Atta left Karachi on February 24, 2000, by flight TK1057 to Istanbul where he changed to flight TK1661 to Hamburg. Then at 8:50pm, he checked into the Hotel Diana Cazadora in Barajas, a town near the airport. On November 29, 1999, Mohamed Atta boarded Turkish Airlines Flight TK1662 from Hamburg to Istanbul, where he changed to flight TK1056 to Karachi, Pakistan. That raises a larger issue, and that is: At any point did anybody in the U.S. knowingly help any of the 19 terrorists prepare for the attack? THE LAST NIGHT. Of the four hijacker pilots, Jarrah was the most westernized, coming from a Lebanese secular background and Christian schooling before moving to Germany for university studies. A spokesman for the F.A.A. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. Ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least four of the other 19 hijackers made six visits to Las Vegas between late May and mid-August of 2001. The alleged distortions of the IG report centered around excluding any evidence that Able Danger had identified and tracked Atta years before 9/11. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, and began inquiring about flight training in the United States. Mohammed Atta, 33, and Marwan al-Shehhi, 23, piloted the planes that hit the World Trade Center, the North and South Towers, respectively. He said that he went on pilgrimage to Mecca again, just 18 months after his first time. Unable to restart the engine, the two men shut the plane down, flipped off the lights and, by one account, walked off. [8] In his will, written in 1996, Atta gives his name as "Mohamed the son of Mohamed Elamir awad Elsayed". There seem to be two primary reasons for his choosing that particular day: that it fell after Labor Day when most Americans (and the George W. Bush administration) would be back at work, maximizing the impact in terms of killing people; and that it was a Tuesday when air travel was easier and the planes less full (that is, fewer hostile passengers to deal with). [48] When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him. And we came up empty.". [99] Intelligence officials have concluded that such a meeting did not occur. After consulting with the other hijacker pilots about the flights they also booked on September 11, three days later Atta again visited aa.com and retrieved his reservations and paid for his flight for himself and A. al-Omari (one of his muscle men) using his VISA card. Evidently, he tried to deliver a message instructing the passengers and crew to stay put over the cabin's PA system, but pressed the wrong switch and thereby tipped off ATC that the flight had been hijacked. Bin al-Shibh passed along bin Laden's list of targets; bin Laden wanted the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center to be attacked, as they were deemed "symbols of America." Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. The 9/11 Commission Report speculated that the now-convicted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah. [51] They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and to plot possible attacks. Between August 17 and September 5, he rented airplanes on 11 separate occasions in Florida, practicing his pilot skills. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. He held interviews with the German news magazine Bild am Sonntag in late 2002, saying his son was alive and hiding in fear for his life, and that American Christians were responsible for the attacks. He asked about the Pentagon and the White House. And they then took action, eventually making their way into the cockpit, forcing the plane down. They were all well-educated, had experience of living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas. Instead, he went to Central Office & Travel in Pompano Beach to purchase a ticket for a flight to Newark, leaving on the evening of August 7 and schedule to return in the evening on August 9. His mother, 79, at the time denied her son's involvement in the attacks and that she feels he is in Afghanistan. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, embarking on the hajj in 1995 but also meeting Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan from late-1999 to early-2000. His father, who kept the family ever insulated, forbade young Atta to fraternize with the other children in their neighborhood. [73], On the morning of July 9, Mohamed Atta rented a silver Hyundai Accent, which he booked from SIXT Rent-A-Car for July 9 to 16, and later extended to the 19th. [39], On August 1, 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study. [16] Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Mohamed Atta accepted and was in Germany two weeks later, in July. It was here that the Hamburg cell developed and acted more as a group. 3", "Ticket agent recalls anger in Atta's eyes", "9/11 victim calmly describes hijack on haunting tape", https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-18-na-introflight18-story.html, "102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die", "TWO YEARS LATER: THE 91ST FLOOR; The Line Between Life and Death, Still Indelible", "FBI affidavit: Flight attendant made call to report hijacking", "A Case of Mistaken Identity: Mohammad Atta Not Linked to Bus Bombing", "2nd Witness Arrested; 25 Held for Questioning", "A Tale of Two 'Attas': How spurious Czech intelligence muddied the 9/11 probe", "Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00", "Officer Says 2 Others Are Source of His Atta Claims", "Hijackers Were Not Identified Before 9/11, Investigation Says", "Exclusive: Witnesses in Defense Dept. He would soon post a note forbidding pilots from flying into Miami International. [79], On August 23, Atta's driver license was revoked in absentia after he failed to show up in traffic court to answer the earlier citation for driving without a license. - United Airlines Flight 175 (traveling from Boston to Los Angeles) strikes the South Tower of the World Trade Center . Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. In April, he was ticketed in South Florida for driving without a license. Apr. The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda.They hailed from four countries; 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.To carry out the attacks, the hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker who would commandeer the . Mohamed Atta, 33, Egypt Atta was quickly identified as the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. Given the vagaries of traveling on the East Coast, (it was a) tremendous risk to take. The FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, where Atta is known to have eaten that day. 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, who is thought to have flown American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center AP "I said, specifically, 'These two clowns are up to . Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. He said he wanted to visit the World Trade Center and asked Bryant about the security there. IE 11 is not supported. Make an oath to die and renew your intentions. Footage shows the five hijackers who flew American Flight 77 into the Pentagon progressing through security checks at Washington's Dulles International Airport. While in South Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals and stopping at Wal-Mart. [55], A video surfaced in October 2006. identifies as one of the 19 hijackers, taxied a small private plane toward a runway when, unexpectedly, it stalled. Atta was seated in business class, in seat 8D. That aircraft hit the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. United Flight 175, also from Boston, hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. "One of the things we did at the White House was push the FBI to focus on Portland to determine whether or not there were people there that they might have met with, Cressey said. THE LAST NIGHT. Kersten said in an interview at the agency's headquarters in Wiesbaden that Atta was in Afghanistan from late 1999 until early 2000,[53][54] and that there was evidence that Atta met with Osama bin Laden there. A separate section of the video shows Osama bin Laden addressing his followers at a complex near Kandahar. He researched the history of the urban landscape in relation to the general theme of conflict between Arab and modern civilization. Wail's ticket was purchased over the phone with a debit card. They had never been pictured together before. This was the last transmission heard from Flight 11. Abdulaziz al Omari (22), Saudi Arabia - Airport security guard. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. [49] The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. ''Whatever came of that, I don't know,'' said Dan Pursell, who was then the chief instructor at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Fla., the flight school where Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi earned their pilot's licenses and had rented the Piper Cherokee that day. Lip readers have failed to decipher it. There, Mr. Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, another man the F.B.I. On April 11, Atta and Shehhi rented an apartment at 10001 Atlantic Blvd, Apt. that best enable air traffic controllers to follow a plane's path. Sun 14 Oct 2001 11.31 EDT. We would like to start training for the career of airline professional pilots. Just after 9:03 a.m., United 175 crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower. By this view, Atta's political and religious beliefs affected the method of his suicide and his choice of target, but they were not the underlying causes of his behavior. "[111], In 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Atta's mother was interviewed by a Spanish newspaper. If any of the hijackers could not reach their intended targets, Atta said, they were to crash the plane. About a minute later, he turned the plane southbound, on a course pointed in the direction of New York City. Atta took control of the plane and crashed it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46a.m.[6] The crash led to the collapse of the skyscraper and the deaths of more than 1,600 people. Atta sent 5060 similar e-mails to other flight training schools in the United States. [76], During the meetings in Spain, Atta and bin al-Shibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked by five al Qaeda terrorists led by Mohamed Atta and was deliberately crashed into the North Tower (on the right) of the World Trade Center at 8:46am local . The two al-Shehri brothers selected seats 2A and 2B in first class. In the first attack at 8.46am, American Airlines Flight 11, travelling from Boston to Los Angeles and piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta, smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in . The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the Islamic Cairo, the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for tourism. They instead traveled to Afghanistan over a two-week period in late November. After a week, they were asked to leave because they were rude. Atta and Jarrah appear in high spirits, laughing and smiling in front of the camera. Now, we are living in Germany since a while for study purposes. In the end though, those international calls and Emails open a window to the falsehood of greater authority to intercept communications. [77] On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta. Air traffic controller Danielle O'Brien was at the Dulles Tower outside Washington, D.C., that morning. If you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. It's Easy to Get Knives and Razors Onto a Plane, the Hijackers Found, The FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit Ignored This Radical Fundamentalist. So why did UA Flight 93 prove to be the only plane that failed to reach its intended target, retaken by its passengers and forced to crash? [115], Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, Mohamed Atta's first announcement, heard by ATC at 08:23, Mohamed Atta's second announcement at 08:33, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWright2006 (. They were on a suicide flight. (L to R, top to bottom) Ahmed Alnami, Ahmed Ibrahim A. al-Haznawi, Ziad Samir al-Jarrah, and Saeed Alghamdi. ''I told them to forget it. He stayed there until 1998. They board a commuter flight to Boston Logan International Airport, they then board American Airlines Flight 11.. 7:59 AM - Flight 11 takes off from Boston, headed for Los Angeles, California.